According to the survey, holders of the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) bring in an average salary of $109,965, down from $118,179 last year.

CISSP is run by (ISC)2 and intended to provide vendor-neutral security expertise and consists of an exam based around security and risk management, communications and network security, software development security, asset security, security architecture and engineering, identity and access management, security assessment and testing, and security operations.

CISSP certificate-holders must earn Continuous Professional Education (CPE) credits every year to remain certified. They must also have at least five years of full-time, paid experience in at least two of the eight computer security areas tested.

There are more than 122,000 CISSPs worldwide, with approximately two-thirds of them in the U.S. More than 920 North American respondents told Global Knowledge that they have the CISSP certificate.